Page 44 of A Private Affair
“I know that! What I’m asking is how Riley knew.”
Chaz glanced up at his uncle. “What would she gain by releasing our dress to the press early? Not that I’m saying she’s responsible.” Because she wasn’t. Chaz was certain of that fact. He was also positive that the moment Riley saw these papers she was going to totally lose it.
“Well, somebody leaked the picture. And do you see Ron’s pompous remarks? He’s not at all threatened by whatever we have in our show. To hell with him and his king-of-the-world attitude!”
Chaz grabbed his phone and was headed toward the door when Tobias called to him.
“Where are you going? We’ve got to deal with this!”
“I’ve got something else to deal with first.”
Tobias sighed heavily. “She is not the priority, Chaz. She’s the enemy.”
Chaz stopped at the door. He turned around and remembered all the things his uncle had done for him. All the money he’d spent on his education and the time he’d taken teaching Chaz everything he needed to know about being a black man in this world. Chaz appreciated all of it and he loved Tobias, but today he was going to set him straight.
“I don’t care what you think about Riley, or her family for that matter. But she means a lot to me and there’s nothing you, this fashion house or anybody else can do to change that.”
He walked out, not giving Tobias a moment to respond. Chaz didn’t care what his response would have been. All he was concerned with right now was getting to Riley before she could see these papers.
“You didn’t give them the picture like Dad told you to,” Riley said to RJ.
She was sitting in her office and RJ was standing on the other side of her desk. Maurice was sitting in one of the guest chairs and Major leaned on the edge of her desk. They’d all filed into her office at seven this morning, tabloids in hand. Riley had already read the stories. She’d looked at the pictures again and she’d taken aspirin to ward off the headache that still pounded at her temples.
“You were right—it made it look as if we were conceding and we’d never do that. Dad’s just working on anger right now, Ri. You know he didn’t mean all that stuff he said to you last night.” RJ could be the voice of reason where their father was concerned.
Riley didn’t know if that was because he was the firstborn or because he was the one who would eventually take Ron’s place at the helm. Either way, it annoyed Riley sometimes. Last night it had pissed her off.
“But let’s clarify something,” Maurice said. “You are sleeping with Chaz Warren?”
There were moments when Riley detested being the only girl among her siblings. This was definitely one of those moments. Having a sister here to help take some of the heat would have been fantastic. As it was, Riley would stand on her own, just like always.
“Yes. We met up in Milan and continued the affair here.” She stopped before explaining any more because she’d said enough. In her mind, however, every second of her time with Chaz had been on replay.
She’d spent the whole night lying on her bed and trying to figure out when and where Chaz had stolen their design.
“And that’s why you were acting different,” RJ said.
“Different how? Please don’t tell me she’s fallen in love again,” Maurice groaned and made a face.
If Riley weren’t still very irritated she would have thrown something at her forever-juvenile brother.
“To be clear, I’ve never been in love,” she stated.
“Because you’ve got good sense like the smart twin,” Major added.
“Where’s Dad? I thought he’d want to be here to continue his reprimand.” And if her brothers were finished staring at her and questioning her, Riley would really like to get back to work.
“He wasn’t here when I came in, so I figured we’d see him later,” RJ said.
“That’s not like him to miss an opportunity to rant about Tobias King,” Major said. “Speaking of which, I’ve gotta say this was a pretty underhanded stunt and one Tobias could have certainly pulled a long time ago. Why now? Why this line and why target Riley again?”
Riley hadn’t thought of those particular questions last night or this morning. She’d been too busy thinking about Chaz.
“Those are good questions,” RJ stated just before the door to Riley’s office was pushed open.
Chaz came in with Korey hot on his heels.
“I tried to tell him he wasn’t welcome, but he pushed right past me!” Korey practically screamed those words the moment he made it into the office.
